6 Most Important Things in Business Today

Shari Redstone, the daughter of Sumner Redstone who controls CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) and Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIAB), wants to merge the two companies, according to The Wall Street Journal.

After a modest rally, bitcoin’s value dropped again. According to Bloomberg:

The roller coaster January for cryptocurrency investors showed no signs of ending on Thursday as Bitcoin swung back to a loss in London trading just hours after staging a recovery above the $10,000 mark.

The largest digital currency was down 2.4 percent to $11,107 at 9:07 a.m. in London, Bloomberg composite pricing showed. Bitcoin held steady for much of the Asia trading day as investors took a breath following a frantic 24 hours in which it swung through a trading range of $2,600. Rivals ethereum and litecoin both fell more than 4 percent while Ripple was up 4.5 percent.

The attacks about “fake news” on Facebook Inc. (NYSE: FB) have moved outside the United States. According to CNBC:

Rights and democracy advocates are calling attention to Facebook’s role in spreading misinformation again — this time in the Philippines.

The social media giant’s hosting of inaccurate stories that support strongman President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration has been newly spotlighted after Manila moved to shut down a local news site that had been the victim of a misinformation campaign.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) will pay a large number of its employees restricted stock units. According to CNBC:

Apple continued a blitz of investment announcements on Wednesday with a stock-based compensation award for some employees.

The iPhone maker will grant $2,500 in restricted stock units over the coming months. Restricted stock units are valued in company stock, but vest over time. Apple’s stock hit an all-time intraday high of $179.39 a share on Tuesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 26,000 for the first time ever. According to CNNMoney:

The stock market is on fire. The Dow just zoomed another 300 points and closed above 26,000 for the first time.

The latest rush to buy stocks left the average up almost 8,000 points since President Trump’s 2016 election.

The rally on Wednesday gave the Dow its best percentage gain since since November. And it showed that the upward trend remains intact despite a big reversal the day before. The Dow hit 26,000 on Tuesday morning before closing much lower.